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The squad travelled to Frilford Heath on Saturday to play Abingdon School team. St. Clare's FC experienced their first defeat of 2006 going down 5-2 to a superior Abingdon side.

The conditions were not ideal for football with high winds sweeping down the playing field. The opening exchanges were even and the St. Clare's defensive were coping well with the Abingdon strikers and the wind. The deadlock was broken in the 15 minute when the Abingdon midfield drilled a low ball past Ben Hanbury-Aggs. It did take St. Clare's 25 minutes to settle into the game. They found it difficult to cope with the pace of the game. Nick Hayes drew the side's level after some good work by Ben Tollington on the left wing. Abingdon scored before the break to make it 2-1.

The second half was dominated by Abingdon who played a very direct game aided by a stiff breeze. St. Clare's reshuffled personnel and introduced Leonid Druzhinin for Ian Lee at left back and Aziz Al Shaid for Jedrzej Kasztelan up front. Nick Hayes, now operating in midfield, made another strong run from the centre and chipped the Abingdon keeper to score his second of the game. The goal injected life into the St. Clare's team for a second time and there were passages of good play. In the 70 th minute Vincent Graw gave away a penalty which was duly scored. The visitors' challenge was over and despite the heroic efforts of Klevis Caushaj, Dogukan Kurt and Vincent Graw, Abingdon scored twice more late on.

After the match, St. Clare's Coach, Kevin Hennessy spoke of the positive attitude of his players towards a match that they were always chasing. “We equalised twice but could not hold them out for the last 20 minutes. The team needed to get the ball on the ground and put some passes together”. The weather and the below par performance of some of his players did not allow this to happen.

Ben Tollington